Pathways and Persistence: Identifying Barriers to Enrollment and Retention in Undergraduate Cybersecurity Education in the United States
Madison Thomas · 2025
This proposed dissertation aims to understand why students persist in cybersecurity degree programs at a local and national level, as there is limited data that show why students choose to leave or stay in their cybersecurity degree program. Understanding this is critical, as there is projected growth at 23% between 2023 and 2033, a substantial difference from other career fields at 3% [1]. Study 1 focuses on students in three courses at North Carolina State University (NCSU) that are required for graduation in the cybersecurity concentration or security track. Study 2 is a longitudinal study of NCSU students and their reasons for persisting or dropping the cybersecurity concentration/track. Study 3 is a national study that focuses on 150 universities that hold one of the three Centers for Academic Excellence (CAE) cybersecurity certifications from the National Security Agency (NSA) for at least 10 years. Previous work has looked at the demographics of these institutions and information about their programs [2] but has not conducted an analysis of student perceptions of these programs. The contributions of these studies will provide university faculty, department heads, and college deans with information about students' decisions to stay or leave cybersecurity programs to provide additional support, such as access to mentors, information about clubs or informal learning environments, or outside organizations related to cybersecurity, or information to students about ways to increase their intentions to persist and graduate with a cybersecurity-focused degree.